unconventional guides : The Art of Non-Conformity

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Join a Supportive Community and Create a New Source of Income

Link: Side Hustle Society

Short version: my new training program (the first I’ve made in 3 years!) is now available for registration. Join during the introductory launch—one week only—before it closes for at least a month.

-OFFER ENDS January 16, 2018-

Travel

How to Rack Up Frequent Flyer Miles Using Shopping Portals

This is a free excerpt from Upgrade Unlocked: The Unconventional Guide to Luxury Travel on a Budget by Stephanie Zito.

The easiest and most lucrative way to maximize point earning on the things you already buy is to use a magic service online called a shopping portal. Shopping portals are simple websites run by your favorite airlines and hotels, and contain links to nearly every online store you can imagine (and probably already shop at).

When you use a portal as a gateway to access your regular online store, you earn points in a mileage program for whatever you buy. It's easy!

Work

How Much Money Do You Need to Live Abroad? 13 Questions to Ask Yourself

This is an excerpt from Working On the Road: The Unconventional Guide to Full-Time Freedom by Nora Dunn.

Traveling full-time can actually cost far less than it does to live in one place. This is due to a number of cost-saving factors, ranging from volunteering in trade for free accommodation, using frequent flyer miles, spending time in places where the cost of living is cheaper (sometimes), and judiciously monitoring your spending.

There's no template solution to how much money you’ll need to begin your life working abroad, but you can use these questions to help gauge the expenses you’ll have and how they will vary based on itineraries, priorities and travel style.

Travel

Can You Visit Bora Bora on a Budget? Sort of—Here’s How.

This is a free excerpt from Upgrade Unlocked: The Unconventional Guide to Luxury Travel on a Budget by Stephanie Zito.

Bora Bora is a dream destination smack in the middle of the South Pacific. The French Polynesian island is famous for its crystal waters in 50 shades of blue, and luxury accommodation in over-the-ocean bungalows that come complete with a private balcony stepping straight into the sea.

It’s a popular destination for honeymooners and just about anyone who likes to be pampered on an island while never being more than 10 steps away from tropical waters.

Work

The Light Outside My Window on the Morning After Launch

Some past reflections and enduring lessons learned during the launch process:

***

This morning I woke up at 7:20am, and it felt so late. There was a touch of light outside—what was that? Oh right, sunrise.

For the past few mornings I’ve been getting up at the entirely unreasonable hour of 5:30am or sometimes even earlier. My breakfast place opens at 6am and I’ve been at the front of the line shortly thereafter. The sun rose two hours after I’d been awake.

Two nights earlier, I went to bed with my laptop on the nightstand. Yep—it was another product launch week.

As I made another cup of coffee on the morning after having slept “so late,” I thought back on the launches over the years. How many have I done? I honestly don’t remember ...

Travel

Live and Work from Anywhere: You’ve Heard the Story, Now It’s Your Turn

I get a lot of questions from people about how they can make money WHILE traveling. To help provide answers, we teamed up with Nora Dunn (a friend and successful long-term digital nomad) to craft this in-depth, comprehensive resource: --> Working on the Road: The Unconventional Guide to Full-Time Freedom

By picking up this guide, you'll get access to:

Job reviews and interviews with professionals in different on-the-road careers
Options and tips for landing online work (freelancing, teaching abroad, telecommuting, working on boats, starting or running a business, and much more)
Logistical solutions and tools for working from afar, budgeting, and managing a virtual lifestyle
Resources for mobilizing your location dependent operation (and the whole family)
A 100% Satisfaction Guarantee (it will help you, or you don't pay)

--> Check it out over here

Travel

How to Earn Money While Traveling: Fact and Fiction

Want to make money while on the road? It’s definitely possible, and more and more people are doing it all the time—but you may need to change your thinking to make it happen.

Our first Unconventional Guide of 2015 launches this Tuesday morning. It’s all about what works—and what doesn’t—when it comes to heading out into the world as a long-term (or at least frequent) traveler.

The premise might surprise you: On its own, traveling has little to do with earning money. You earn money by making or sharing something that other people find valuable. That's it. If you’re going to get paid while abroad, you have to think about what you can do that’s relevant and interesting to others.

What can that be? Let's first consider the most common things people think of when they think of “getting paid to travel.” As we’ll see, they’re all problematic in some way.

Travel

Pay $39 and Travel for Nearly Free: The Missed Opportunity of My Recent Guide Launch

Right before the Thanksgiving holiday, our Unconventional Guides crew unveiled a new product to help people travel for less. But what did we miss?

Work

Creative Business as Art: A Conversation with Wendy Downs

This is an excerpt from Designed to Sell: The Unconventional Guide to Creative Freedom. Wendy Downs is the owner and designer of Moop, a Pittsburg bag company. She sat down with Jen Adrion and Omar Noory to talk about migrating from sculpture to photography to designing, sewing, and selling American made bags—and what it means…

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Getting Paid for Travel Writing: A Conversation with Kristin Luna

People often think ‘Oh, I really want to go to some far-flung destination like Thailand or Mauritius and write about it,’ but if you’re a beginning writer you need to start with what you know.

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A Few Things In the Mix

For a long time I’ve been troubled by the fact that there are many, many amazing people who are part of this community in addition to doing other awesome things—yet we don't do a good job of telling their stories. Just as we're actually making Unconventional Guides now instead of just saying that we should, I'm finally working on addressing this problem.

Meaning Beyond Metrics

Get Rich Slowly has been flying off the proverbial shelves. Even so, there are always a few things we can improve upon or communicate better. Here are a few questions we've received, along with the attempted answers.

Work

Introducing Get Rich Slowly: A 52-Week Guide to Building Wealth

Pop the champagne and brew the espresso... it's finally here! After ~~six months~~ nearly a year's worth of work, we're now ready to unveil Get Rich Slowly: the 52-week, action-packed course.

Work

Tomorrow: How to Leave Debt Behind and Master Your Money

Ten years ago J.D. had more than $35,000 in debt and was living paycheck-to-paycheck. Now he has no debt and more than a million dollars in the bank. The change didn't happen by magic. He didn't learn how to turn straw into gold, and the process of changing his life didn't happen right away.

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Work

A Tale of Two Designers

In The $100 Startup I wrote about two young art school graduates from Columbus, Ohio who had built a successful design business. Their business initially began by chance, when a map they’d made for themselves turned into a hugely popular online product, with orders coming in from all over the world. Very quickly, Jen Adrion…

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